Woman of the Photographs

I am more of a classical Japanese film fan. If a movie wasn't by Kurosawa then I'm not likely to watch it.

I saw this movie at a film festival during Covid. I wasn't planning on watching the whole thing but the opening scenes were fascinating and the lack of dialogue kept me locked in for some reason. I don't know why, but I couldn't stop watching it. I'm still not sure how I feel about the movie but it is marvelously crafted and the director did a fantastic job.

It is visually stunning and frankly, as a director myself, it makes me jealous. I wish that I could make a movie like that.

I would have written a review earlier but I have been looking for the title of this film for a couple of years until I found it through AI tools. Definitely worth watching.

I had never heard about this 2020 Japanese movie titled "Woman of the Photographs" before stumbling upon it here in 2023. And with it being listed as a horror thriller romantic here on IMDb, I must admit that I was intrigued.

However, this movie is nothing remotely in the horror or thriller genre. It is a drama, pure and simple. And an amazingly boring one at that. So I was very surprised in a negative way when I realized that there was neither thriller nor horror elements to the storyline. So "Woman of the Photographs", from writer and director Takeshi Kushida, turned out to be quite something else than what I was expecting to watch.

I didn't enjoy the storyline in Takeshi Kushida's 2020 movie, it was too slow paced, pointless and lacking elements to capture the audience. Yet, I managed to endure a staggering 60 minutes of the 89 minute runtime, before I tossed the towel in the ring and gave up on "Woman of the Photographs" out of sheer and utter boredom.

It should be noted, however, that the acting performances in the movie were actually fair enough. It was a small cast ensemble, but they performed adequately enough to carry the movie, despite of me not finding enjoyment in the script. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in "Woman of the Photographs".

The movie was odd, so very strangely odd. The main male character, the photographer didn't speak, but it wasn't made clear why, if he was mute or just shy. And the female main character was self-obsessed with getting approval on social media and posting manipulated photos online. In a way, "Woman of the Photographs" was a jab at how pathetic our society has become in the quest for the likes from random strangers online that we go to extremes to get those likes.

I am sure that there is an audience out there for a movie such as "Woman of the Photographs". I, however, found it a bit too avantgarde and artsy for my liking. And thus, I found no enjoyment or entertainment in the movie that writer and director Takeshi Kushida delivered.

With only 29 minutes remaining of the movie, I have to admit that I am not returning to sit down and continue on with the torture that was "Woman of the Photographs". The movie just failed to entertain me.

My rating of "Woman of the Photographs" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

Well this could have been a wonderful entry from the similar concept of Woman of the dunes by Teshigahara. But what this attempts to do is make it look like a feel good film for the cause of showing empathy to one of he lead characters and focusing in instagram-narcissism. The second half falters just when the story gives us an opportunity to think big. It starts as a slow-burn thriller and ends at being a feel-good love film. Only if the directory knew what exactly he wants to do with the second half, this could have been a great film.

It's a difficult movie to categorise; part fable, part romance and part body-horror. The performances are understated and nuanced and the story is compelling.

This film makes you think a deep philosophical question - who are you ? What defines you ? Would you exist if nobody sees you ?

A good movie to watch although some parts of the film may be difficult to understand if you haven't lived in Japan.